Art of Piano: Participant Showcases 1

Yuchen (Vincent) Li, born in Beijing, China, began studying piano at five. He is currently a senior undergraduate at the Eastman School of Music under Dr. Joseph Rackers.

In June 2024, Vincent performed the first movement of Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 21 in C Major, K. 467 with the Central Texas Philharmonic. His achievements include being the runner-up of the 2024 New York MTNA Young Artist Division, first prize in the 2022 Heddy Kilian Empire State Competition, and an invitation to perform in the Brampton Chamber Music Concert Series as a competition winner in 2019. He also won first place in the ARCT Etude group in 2018 at the North York Music Festival.

Vincent has participated in masterclasses and lessons with renowned pianists and educators, such as Logan Skelton, Richard Goode, HieYon Choi, Sean Duggan, Boris Slutsky, Anton Nel, Alexander Kobrin, Steven Spooner, Michelle Cann, Arthur Greene, Daria Rabotkina, James Giles, and Christopher Guzman. He is immensely grateful to his former teachers—Eldon Ng (Toronto, Canada), Dmitri Vorobiev (University of North Carolina School of the Arts), Daniela Ballek (Wiesbaden, Germany), and Haijun Yan (Beijing, China)—for their guidance and continuous support in his musical journey.

Vincent Li was generously supported by the Cyril and Elizabeth Challice Fund for Musicians.

Adam Sun is currently based in Vancouver as a student of the University of British Columbia, studying piano performance with professor Corey Hamm. Under his guidance and that of previous mentors, such as Irina Faletski and Sergei Saratovsky, Adam has pursued many performance opportunities, earning awards and placements at festivals and competitions such as the Canadian Music Competition, the Vancouver Kiwanis Festival, the Shean Piano Competition, and the VSO School of Music Concerto Competition. Adam received an opportunity to play for two concerts with the VSO, being one of two student pianists performing Saint-Saëns’ Carnival of the Animals and Carnival of Our Animals, a composition composed by William Rowson based on three animals of Coast Salish nations. Adam is an active collaborative and solo pianist who frequently engages in partnerships with singers and instrumentalists, premiering chamber music and art song compositions such as “Sunset” and “garden” by UBC composers Francis Reyes and Vivian Kwok.

Adam Sun was generously supported by the Cyril and Elizabeth Challice Fund for Musicians.
 

Sarah Yang, age 19, is a second-year student at the Manhattan School of Music, where she studies with Professor Alexandre Moutouzkine. Beginning her piano studies at the age of 4, her principal teachers have included Rada Bukhman, Nicholas Rada, and Ilana Vered. Sarah is a repeat gold medalist of the Pacific International Youth Music Society Competition, and a silver medalist of the Vancouver International Music Competition and the Chopin NW Piano Competition. She was Overall Winner at the Vancouver Kiwanis Music Festival, and First Place at the Vancouver International Festival of Russian Music. She is also a prize-winner of the Seattle Young Artists Music Festival Association and the Canadian Music Competition. Sarah has played in numerous masterclasses including for Jerome Lowenthal, Ursula Oppens, Orli Shaham, John Perry, Spencer Myer, Christopher Harding, Ian Jones, Markus Groh, Genya Paley, and Dmitri Novgorodsky. Sarah has given performances in prestigious venues such as the Basilica di San Pietro (Perugia, Italy), Merkin Hall (New York, USA) and The Vancouver Playhouse (Vancouver, Canada).

Sarah Yang was generously supported by the Susan and Graeme McDonald Music Endowment.
 

Tianhao Wu is a Chinese pianist who earned his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Piano Performance from the Manhattan School of Music. Mr. Wu is currently immersed in his Doctoral studies in Music Art at the University of Miami's Frost School of Music, under the tutelage of Santiago Rodriguez.

In the 2024 season, Mr. Wu won the Golden Award at the GOCAA New York International Music Competition in the Concerto Division by performing Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 22 in E-flat major with the Four Seasons Orchestra. In September, he was selected as a finalist in the 10th Seattle International Piano Competition. Additionally, he won first prize at the Universal Artists Festival International Music Competition, which earned him the opportunity to be a featured soloist performing a concerto with the International Chamber Orchestra at the Universal Artists Festival at the New England Conservatory. Mr. Wu also secured first prizes at the WPTA Finland International Piano Competition, the Golden Classical Music Award Competition, the Grand Metropolitan International Music Competition, and the Fourth Chinese National Piano Competition.

Mr. Wu participated in the Tianjin Juilliard Piano Festival, the Euro Arts Academy, the Todi 1st International Music Festival, and the 2016 KAWAI Master Class and Music Festival.

Tianhao Wu was generously supported by the Heather Edwards Artist Award.